Evo's U-turn

By some fluke your author actually caught this announcement live last night but was too busy drinking champagne to post on it. Here's Bolivia Weekly with its version.

Today just hours before new year President Evo Morales gave a press conference where he announced that he will “obey the people” and annule Supreme Decree 748 which he had his vice president announce while visiting Venezuela on December 26th. Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera had announced on December 26th that Bolivia spends 380 million dollars subsidizing fuel each year.  The decree had caused gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and vehicular natural gas prices to skyrocket by 57% to 82% and led to a nation wide bus and transport strike that paralyzed the country during the holidays. Morales’ spokesman Ivan Canelas had announced to the national press that this move to cut subsidies was “valiant and patriotic” because the gas subsidies were “shedding Bolivia’s blood and neoliberal” and “this is why all the right-wing opposition leaders and ex-mayors of neoliberal ex-presidents agree in denouncing this decree.” Morales has spent the past 4 days justifying his decision to end gas subsidies, calling them “neoliberal” and blaming transport workers for raising prices. Bolivian groups have been almost unanimous in denouncing the gas-hike, even the coca growers unions which Evo used to lead decided to block the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz road.CONTINUES HERE

I also like Bolivia Weekly's end comment: "To learn more look at any Bolivian newspaper", but click through to BW and read the rest, because it does a good job in covering the bases.

What's noticeable is that word "neoliberal".....the subsidies were neoliberal so had to go...then protesters said Evo's decision was neoliberal....now the decree has been overturned because of its neoliberal opposition. In other words, the only spark of good about this episode is how everyone uses 'neoliberal' as a term of disparagement in Bolivia....we're all Marxists now, baby. But really, although it's good that he had the guts to U-turn on this, the last week in Bolivia will go down as an embarrassment for Evo and a real Banana Republic moment for the country.

Bolivia is the subject of IKN's first prediction for 2011

Your humble scribe stares deeply into his crystal ball, goes all misty eyed, proffers up an offering or two to the Gods and says:

"You won't be hearing much about Bolivia's fuel hikes and protests one week from now. It's already blowing over, the "massive calls for Evo's resignation" as seen on CNN, Fox and other dumbass sources of information on all things LatAm amounted to about 20,000 people (and 20,000 does not a resignation make), the transport strike has already been called off, there are no runs on banks as the rabid right tried to suggest, Evo will take a temporary hit in the polls but will get through this just fine. So sorry Stratfor, sorry Economist..no blood on the streets this time."

What Evo Said

Here's last night's EvoSpeech to the Nation on the fuel price rise, what it means, the spoonfulls of sugar that he announced and all things in between.

It was a pretty good speech all told, explaining the situation in terms and providing the love via 20% salary rises for police, teachers and healthcare workers (eg doctors and nurses). However the main use of the money is a positive-looking grain purchase plan that will buy produce from farmers at 10% above the market rate....that one gets the large rural population onside quickly.

So the transport workers will strike today and try to make their 100% price increases stick, while the government insists they only have the right to hike prices by 30%. The jury is still out, but the timing of the fuel subsidy cut and the populist moves in Evo's speech last night are scoring good points for the government side right now...chances are that Evo will get his way once the militant mood dies down.

Bolivia's racism

Bolivia's new anti racism law is now in force and to back up its message the government put together a spot to explain what it does (and what it doesn't do). Contrary to the northern handwringing that went on about the issue, it doesn't reduce freedom of expression or human rights or anything of the sort. What it does is stop hate-filled insulting racism from filling the airwaves in Bolivia.

Here's the advert in question so you can judge for yourself. It's in Spanish (natch) but below I've translated the examples used in the spot of the typical type of tripe spewed (and these aren't some sort of exception, either...this stuff is heard all the time).

It's a little tough to accurately translate such filth, but the sentiment is accurate in each translation:.

Arturo Mendivil: "...against these Goddam Colla* sons of bitches.."

*'Colla' is an insulting slang word used by Bolivian whites against indigenous nationals

Jorge Melgar: "...I hate that Goddam race.."

Carlos Valverde: "Officially, I wipe my balls on this law."

Arturo Mendivil: "The Colla badly born and tied to stone llamas" (believe me, there's a lot of cultural baggage in that one and it's really sickeningly racist)

But then it gets better. The abovementioned moron Jorge Melgar is now trying to penalize the government of Bolivia as racist! He wants to take them to court for using his words in their advert and says that he's the one being discriminated against....I shit thee not, dear reader. Here's the Red Erbol report:

La Paz, 14 Dec (Erbol): Professor Jorge Melgar Quette, who used to state that "we have to kill that Indian shit" in reference to President Evo Morales, announced that he will file suit against the government for racism and discrimination for using his image in a video for a TV announcement regarding the new "Law against racism and all forms of discrimination." Continues here

So, wanting to kill a president because he's a brown skinned person is an example of free speech, but using the words against you when pointing at incitement and the use of bigoted language is a criminal act. These are the people that ran Bolivia before Evo arrived in town. These are the people that The US backed via its ambassador Goldberg in the 2008 attempt on Evo's government. And you wonder why the US isn't popular round Bolivia way any longer....

Evo's tumour again

Despite Bolivia flatly denying that the operation Evo went through was to remove a tumour, another new Wikileak has emerged mentioning the case and getting pretty specific. Here's the excerpt from this cable:

Despite the official government position that 

President Morales will undergo treatment to correct a 

deviated septum immediately following the referendum, several 

contacts confirm that the problem is actually a tumor in the 


pituitary near the sella turcica and that Morales will travel 

to Spain for the operation.  xxxxxxxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxxxxxx told us Morales' first choice, Cuba, could not 

perform the surgery. 

Detailed stuff, right? In the end, note that Evo didn't travel to Spain or Cuba but had the corrective surgery in La Paz Bolivia. However, it was performed by Cuban surgeons. 

By the way, that very same cable linked above is evidence that The USA really doesn't have the first clue about Bolivia, even at a diplomatic level. Here's a dude writing his letters home from the La Paz Embassy talking about Bolivia's "quickly crumbling economy". Jeeez! For one thing Bolivia's "crumbling economy "just happened to be the number one best performing economy in the whole of The Americas in 2009 and for another, the economic policies have continued to this day, giving Bolivia a decent growth forecast for 2010. Currency reserves are at an all-time record, its trade surplus is excellent and the acid test of any country, its currency, shows strength all round, with the crawling peg recently ratcheted up a notch and Bolivians, for the first time ever, holding more savings in local currency than in the US Dollar. No wonder US policymakers get the country so wrong: they're informed by utter dumbasses. 

What is (was) up Evo's nose?

Another cute leak this morning:

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 000093 

SIPDIS 

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/AND, INR 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2019 
TAGS: PREL PINR BO BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S LULA OFFERS BOLIVIA'S MORALES TREATMENT 
FOR TUMOR 

Classified By: Ambassador Clifford M. Sobel, Reason 1.4 
(b) and (d) 

¶1. (C) In a conversation with Ambassador Sobel following the 
January 15, 2009 La Paz meeting between Brazilian President Lula and 
Bolivian President Morales, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson
 Jobim (protect) confirmed an earlier rumor that Morales is 
suffering from a serious sinus tumor. Jobim told the Ambassador 
that Lula had offered Morales an examination and treatment at a 
Sao Paulo hospital. Although there have been been public reports 
that Morales needs surgery for "acute sinusitis," and related 
otitis and headaches, according to Jobim his problems in fact 
are caused by a serious tumor and the surgery will be an effort
 to remove it. Treatment has been put off, however, until after
 the constitutional referendum scheduled for January 25. Jobim,
 who attended the meeting between Lula and Morales, commented 
that the tumor might explain why Morales has seemed unfocussed
 and not his usual self at this and other recent meetings. SOBEL

UPDATE: Bolivia is denying that Evo ever had a tumour. From this WaPo story:

"Morales' spokesman Ivan Canelas denied there had ever been any tumor, saying Morales had surgery last year for a problem with his nasal septum that was causing him constant colds. In a radio interview, he said the leaked cable "had a big dose of speculation.""

WhaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAt? Y-y-y-y-y-y-you mean it's remotely possible that the US Diplo corps in South America has been making shit up about Evo Morales? WHAT A SHOCKAH!

Tomorrow (Tuesday 19th October) in Ilo, Peru

From this newswire report

The Presidents of Bolivia of Bolivia and Peru will leave behind them years of political fights and "relaunch" the relationship between the two member states of the Andean Community when they meet on Tuesday in the Peruvian port of Ilo, according to the Bolivian head of State.

Evo Morales said on Monday in a press conference that his meeting with his Peruvian counterpart Alan García was made possible by the recent decision in Lima to send back two right wing ex-functionaries of Bolivia who had escaped to Peru in order to evade justice on charges of corruption.

It will be, "A Presidential encounter in the city of Ilo that has the objective to relaunch, impluse give new vigour, a renovation to bilateral relations with Peru", announced the indigenous governor. Continues here

Evo Morales, red-carded for kneeing opponent in the cojones

This is must-see footage. Over the weekend President Evo Morales played in a 'friendly' football (soccer if you like) game for the government MAS team versus the opposition MSM party, the party that holds the mayorship of La Paz. After a dirty tackle and some sort of mouthing off by the MSM team, Evo took justice into his own hands, footy field style:

Yep, a nice hard knee straight in the bollocks of the defender. The ref red-carded him and off he went. The match finished 4-4, by the way.

About time we saw this kind of action in a few regional congresses, methinks.

Evo Does NYC: Be there or be L 7

This is one you won't want to miss, Newyorkers. Evo Morales in da house, speaking for free and you (yes YOU!) are invited. Here's the link to find out more, here's the paste-up

Evo in NYC: "Nature is Not for Sale" 9/21

Share · Public event

Time	21 September · 18:00 - 20:00
Location	Community Church of New York, 40 E 35th St., New York, NY
Created by:	Megan Morrissey
More info	Bolivian President Evo Morales will speak about the climate change crisis and how to rethink our relationship to the environment. Free and open to the public, arrive early, doors at 5:30 PM. RSVP to the Mission of Bolivia to the United Nations: bolivianmission (AT) gmail.com "La Naturaleza No Esta en Venta" - un acto publico del Presidente Evo Morales en la ciudad de Nueva York. Martes 21 de septiembre, abierto a todos, puertas abren a las 17:30. Confirmar asistencia en Mision de Bolivia ante Naciones Unidas: bolivianmission (AT) gmail.com

The USA once again confused about how South America can develop quite nicely without its presence

Abiding in Bolivia takes down the woeful crap written about Bolivia and lithium in today's WaPo article. El Duderino's article entitled "Washington Post dreams lithium while Bolivia moves ahead" takes the gringo ignorance to task (and rightly so) but is also indicative of a more general issue. Really, when are you guys going to get it through your thick skulls that South America is not tied to your Manifest Destiny apronstrings and has a whole bunch of other choices when it comes to FDI?

Abide with me

Abiding In Bolivia's Duderino isn't posting so very often these days, but he's still posting and that's the best news. Today he offers up a nice pic, a link to a decent report on Bolivia and also some critique of the normal northern viewpoints on Bolivia you get to hear from all them there experts, which goes like this:

Ignorant gringo: OMG! Evo Morales is an Indian who wants to save Mother Earth, WE ARE SAVED!

Ignorant gringo two weeks later: You know what I just read. That in Bolivia, they have huge mines that pollute the water, rivers, and kill fish. Evo is such a hypocrytical asshole. He must just be a dirty demogagic commie. The New York Times was right!

Ignorant gringo later that day: Gosh, politics is so stupid. I am just going to blog about my feelings and work on my compost pit.

Yes, yes and thrice yes. We love Duderino so click thru, read it all and have a nice day while you're at it.

ps: i liked 'demogagic', dude :-)

File this one under "Embarrassing for Evo"

Clarín has the report, Otto does a translation.

Favourite Aymara Elder of Evo Morales Arrested and Charged with Cocaine Manufacturing

29/07/10, 12:46pm

Valentín Mejillones Acarapi, who was in charge of the Bolivian President's investiture ceremony in 2006, was arrested at his home in El Alto "while working on the washing or purification of cocaine", according to the local anti-drugs commanding officer.

The "amauta" (Aymara elder/wise man) who invested President Evo Morales in 2006 as indigenous spiritual leader in an Andean religious ceremony was detained by Bolivian anti-drug police and accused of manufacturing liquid cocaine, a police chief today said.

Valentín Mejillones Acarapi, 55, was captured Tuesday in the Andean city of El Alto next to La Paz, when the existence of a cocaine factory was discovered in his house. His son and two Colombian nationals were also detained who had in their possession 350kg of liquid drug, according to police reports.

"In the operation we found four people, a Colombian husband and wife and the other two people, father and son, owners of the house, working on the washing or purification of cocaine", said Colonel Félix Molina, commander of the anti-drugs police.

Mejillones was today identified as the principal Aymara priest who on January 22nd 2006 invested Morales as leader of the indigenous peoples in a religious ceremony at the pre-Inca temple of Tiwanaku, one day before taking office as the President of Bolivia.

A government spokeperson, Iván Canelas, denied any relationship between the Morales government and the detainee, saying that, "according to the investigation he should be sanctioned if found to have committed a crime."

WaPo, the paper that pretends US foreign policy in LatAm, has no freakin' idea as to who Evo Morales is

A great little post and piece of sleuthing from Jakob over at Maladjusted (and thanks due to that bodega owner) . Click this link right here and see for yourself just how much of TEH STOOOPID there is in US media over LatAm affairs.

Chess news

Today, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov find themselves in Peru to give a free chess exhibition to locals in order to promote the game in the country. And btw, Peru has a couple of young champions in the sister/brother double act of Deysi and Jorge Cori, who won their respective sub 16 and sub 14 groups in the world youth championships last year, so there is a base to work from already.

Then tomorrow The K+K chess roadshow is off to Bolivia, where the Russkies are due to play an exhibition match against none other than the President of Bolivia, Dr. Evo Morales. By all accounts, Evo is a fairly tidy club standard player too, having been a chess player since a young kid. And always good for a quote, evo sez:

"It's incredible that the great sporting scientist Anatoly Karpov wants to play a game with me. I hope he doesn't beat me in seconds or minutes, I'll put up a fight."

Oh, all this goodwill and upstanding promotion of chess in South America might just have something to do with Karpov's candidacy for the Presidency of chess world body FIDE and the way that he's been canvassing for the Peru and Bolivian association votes in this year's election. But hey....all good clean fun.

The Evo/Costas meeting: How was it for you, Ruben?

"Sorry about the 'monkey' cracks, dude."
"No worries dude."

The meeting we outlined earlier this morning between Evo Morales and Ruben Costas has just finished. It lasted around 75 minutes and, sadly for the Evohaters out there, it went well according to the main guest at least. Here's a translation of a quote from Costas found in this report:

"The meeting happened in a very good atmosphere, with a very good predisposition shown by the President. The main objective was the search to construct a clear and sincere dialogue, the possibility that we as public servants, head of the country and head of Santa Cruz, work for what we want for Bolivians and for citizens of Santa Cruz, work for the wellbeing of our people and in a coordinated way."

Those with memory will notice that Costas now openly recognizes Morales as President of all Bolivia, a quantum leap in itself from a man who refused to recognize his mandate for many years. The other words from his lips were also highly conciliatory. Hey, we still don't like the dude much and there's every reason to want actions and not words before he's worthy of any sort of trust, but today was a good day for Bolivia. Peace beats war every single time.

Bolivia: Peace breaking out

Over at Bolivia's state news service ABI, the main story this week is that main opposition leader in Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, has accepted an invitation from Evo Morales to sit down and talk. This might not sound like much to those unversed in BoliviaPolitik, but just the fact the two are willing to get together for constructive talks is a major step forward. This is, after all, the same provincial politician who refused to recognize Morales as his President, used racist language at every turn in his insults and was one of the main players in the attempted secession plans of 2008.

But let's not dwell on the past too much, as if Costas goes to the table with the right attitude Bolivia can turn out as the winner here. Good EngLang service Bolivia Weekly has more on the subject right here.

Evo does Finland

As well as the important statesmanlike stuff and the promotion of a true pachamama-friendly agenda....

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Saturday he would like Finland to provide his country with "clean technology," and in exchange Bolivia would send organic products to the Nordic country.

"We could protect our Mother Earth together," Morales told reporters in Helsinki during the first official visit by a Bolivian president to Finland.

"Finland could provide Bolivia with clean technology, while Bolivia could supply organic products to Finland," continues here

.....we hear that President of Bolivia, Dr. Evo Morales, has been spending his time in Finland watching TV and eating breakfast, dinner and snack lunch in the hall. ALL TOGETHER FINOPHILES!

Shock!!! Evo Morales Steals Manchester United's Plane!!!

Well, nearly.

Because Man Utd ran out of money, Bolivia stepped in and bought the thing instead. We presume Evo will be cool with red leather seats and minibars. Here's Bolivia Weekly on the story.

Evo Buys Manchester United Plane

The Bolivian government confirmed on May 11th that it has bought a luxury airplane model Falcon 900 that belonged to Manchester United. “This is a plane that Manchester United ordered, paid for portially but then couldn’t finish paying for so the company is selling it to us. It is new and has the safety features we require,” said minister of economy and finance Luis Arce Catacora. The French airplane is being purchased because the President has been continues here

According to someone who REALLY knows, this is why Evo Morales should win The Nobel Peace Prize

Pérez Esquivel (for it is he)

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is the head of the highly regarded organization Serpaj (Spanish acronym that stands for "Argentina Service for Peace and Justice") . He is also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, having won the award in 1980 (remember the days when they used to give the prize out to people that actually deserved it? Seems so long ago now.....).

Pérez Esquivel yesterday made official his backing for Evo Morales to win the prize. The laureate said (translated):

"Evo Morales Ayma is named (by Serpaj) as candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for his permanent struggle for social justice, respect for cultural diversion, his constant efforts for Latinamerican and Caribbean integration, and the respect, peace and coexistence between nations."

Apparently this year there are something like 234 names entered as candidates for the big award (an all-time record) so there's plenty of competition. But away from the 24 hour a day biased bullshit you're fed by English language media, the good works of Evo Morales are recognized by people that hold real weight in the world of peace and social justice. Just marking your card in case Evo actually goes and wins the darned thing.

Chile and Bolivia: This one will really confuse you guys up there

Hey, remember all the celebrations about the right wing victory over the Axis of Evo that happened in Chile? How the new hope of the rabid right was about to kick ass and take names amongst those pinko commie types that eat babies and stuff? Check out this video:

Chile's Pres Elect Piñera played a friendly game of footy with next door neighbour Evo Morales today. Sebastian said that "This football match has a lot of symbolism" and went on to say:

"Our shirt has the flags of both Chile and Bolivia, with a symbol of unity and a handshake, and this is what we want to do with Bolivia, with Argentina, with Peru; be brother countries that solve our differences with dialogue, not with insults and much less by violence."

Meanwhile, here's Evo's take on the gig:

"Via sport we want to built a good friendship, president, with trust from president to president, trust from government to government, the trust of our peoples, brothers and neighbours"

Do not expect this one to make it to BatshitCrazy O'Grady's WSJ column next week, cos if it doesn't fit the prejudice, you just gotta ignore it. It's how the west was won, son.